Guanajuato: It'll all work out
Action
We were sitting on a park bench in Guanajuato, Mexico, when Josh sighed
and said, "We're lucky that everything has worked out so far. I wonder
what will happen when things don't work out." I murmered something in
agreement and we continued to look at the children playing and listened to
a the sounds of street performers. Suddenly, I blurted out, "What do you
mean 'everything has worked out so far'? I lost my eyeglasses, various
toiletries and retainer on the flight to Denver; I got motion sickness on
the bus ride from Denver to El Paso and puked twice; and we arrived in
Zacatecas (our first stop in México) at four thirty in the morning, which
was 5 hours earlier than we expected and we had no accomodations
reserved!"
Reflection
Actually, everything has worked out so far. I bought a cheap pair of
glasses to replace the ones I lost. I had even remembered to bring a copy
of my prescription. The nausea from my motion sickness passed after
walking around El Paso for a couple hours, and I've taken Dramamine before
all the long bus rides since then. Finally, though we arrived in
Zacatecas at 4:30 a.m., we ended up having a splendid day. We dosed in
the bus station for a couple hours and then took a bus downtown. The
tourist office downtown made arrangements for us to stay at a
nearby hotel. By 10 a.m. we checked into a hotel with clean, brightly
colored rooms and a beautiful view of the city from the rooftop. We
dropped off our luggage and after showering spent the late morning
wandering around Zacatecas and napped in the afternoon.
Question
What does it take to describe a situation as "not working out"?
We were sitting on a park bench in Guanajuato, Mexico, when Josh sighed
and said, "We're lucky that everything has worked out so far. I wonder
what will happen when things don't work out." I murmered something in
agreement and we continued to look at the children playing and listened to
a the sounds of street performers. Suddenly, I blurted out, "What do you
mean 'everything has worked out so far'? I lost my eyeglasses, various
toiletries and retainer on the flight to Denver; I got motion sickness on
the bus ride from Denver to El Paso and puked twice; and we arrived in
Zacatecas (our first stop in México) at four thirty in the morning, which
was 5 hours earlier than we expected and we had no accomodations
reserved!"
Reflection
Actually, everything has worked out so far. I bought a cheap pair of
glasses to replace the ones I lost. I had even remembered to bring a copy
of my prescription. The nausea from my motion sickness passed after
walking around El Paso for a couple hours, and I've taken Dramamine before
all the long bus rides since then. Finally, though we arrived in
Zacatecas at 4:30 a.m., we ended up having a splendid day. We dosed in
the bus station for a couple hours and then took a bus downtown. The
tourist office downtown made arrangements for us to stay at a
nearby hotel. By 10 a.m. we checked into a hotel with clean, brightly
colored rooms and a beautiful view of the city from the rooftop. We
dropped off our luggage and after showering spent the late morning
wandering around Zacatecas and napped in the afternoon.
Question
What does it take to describe a situation as "not working out"?
4 Comments:
At 11:19 PM, lernerm said…
It may sound trite, but it sounds like the point about a mistake being merely a learning opportunity. Often when things aren't "working out", we look back on the same situation a while later and reinterpret things so that what appeared to not work out is now seen as working out in a different sense. I often use the example with my patients of 2 people stuck in a car, both of whom will be late for work - in neither case is the commute "working out", but one person says to himself "great, just my luck, this always happens to me, now the rest of my day is sure to be horrible, and so on", while the other says "hey, it happens, this gives me a chance to listen to the CD that I haven't had time to play yet". So it all depends on what we say to ourselves, and on our expections - expect to have some motion sickness, and if it occurs, you won't be so upset. You know, this sounds so trite, but in fact, when I point this sort of stuff out to patients, often they find that it makes a big difference in how they experience their daily hassles. P.S. Ginger capsules are also helpful for nausea/motion sickness.
At 12:34 PM, Anonymous said…
it's not working out when your miserable. really big misfortunes, large theft, really getting lost or scared, deciding to cancel the trip....those to me, are signs that it is not working out. a lil' bit lost, a lil' bit sick, even a little bit of tears are all pretty standard experiences when traveling for a while. but its true, experiencing something in real time, and reflecting upon it later, makes a big difference in how we perceive a situation or our feelings.
im happy to hear you have arrived in mexico! and that everything has "worked out" so far!! tacos without carne...yummy yummy.
- brooke
At 2:54 PM, Jen said…
It is all working out when you are still alive :)
Jen
At 2:54 PM, Jen said…
It is all working out when you are still alive :)
Jen
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